Father Robert J. Hater
The Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam Era
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The winds of change blew strongly during these 10 years. What happened at the Second Vatican Council by the way of moving the Church away from relative isolation and its fortress mentality came as strong forces for change gathered worldwide. This era followed in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (1963) Read More
The Second Vatican Council
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Pope Pius XII directed the Church through World War II. He was a traditionalist, and the education that we priests received in the seminary during his reign centered on scholastic theology. After he died, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, the 76-year-old patriarch of Venice, Italy, replaced him. This much-loved, jovial man was initially seen as an intermediate Read More
World War II and Post-War Years
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The name change from The Acolyte to The Priest magazine was announced in December 1944, during the height of World War II. The U.S. involvement in the war started with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. I learned of this attack when our family was at the Famous Glass Barn in Cincinnati. Read More
Loyal Catholics
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A parishioner recently told her pastor: “I watched the livestreamed Mass from our parish website this weekend. When the camera panned over the congregation, the attendance was much smaller than before the pandemic.” The downswing in Sunday Mass attendance since parishes closed during the COVID-19 outbreak represents a turning point. Previously, the number of people Read More
Confronting Secularism in Advent and Christmas
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Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, the divine Savior and humble man from Nazareth, who told us that we cannot serve God and mammon. Paradoxically, this feast has become the most secular time of the year. How can pastors and other priests bring a sense of the sacred to confront the secularism that Advent/Christmas now Read More
Reaching the ‘C&E’ Catholics
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Parking on the street around St. Clare Parish was heavy. It was Christmas Eve, about 20 minutes before Mass began. As I walked up the street toward the post office, I passed in front of the church. A friend greeted me and said, “Mass doesn’t start for 20 minutes, and already there is standing room Read More
Co-Workers in the Vineyard of the Lord
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Jesus said, “You too go into my vineyard” (Mk 20:4). When I was a boy, the pastor of St. William’s Church, assistant priests and religious women performed most of the parish’s work. In addition, it had a lay organist, boy servers, a choir, a married man to count the collection and a single woman teaching Read More
A Pastor’s Collaboration
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On Memorial Day weekend, my sister and I planned to attend a festival in Indiana. Upon our arrival, we parked our car, ate a picnic lunch and walked to the festival. As we crossed the street using the crosswalk, I suddenly was lifted, carried along and dumped on the street. A car had hit me. Read More